By now, we all know what I believe about time: it is your most valuable resource. And, in a lot of ways, the saying “time is money” is LITERALLY true. So when you save time, you save money… But you’ve got your hands full, and there aren’t any balls you can drop. So how can you increase your profits by saving your time? The answer is automation—and the tool is Kajabi. I’ve raved about Kajabi before, and for good reason—it is THE ultimate software for building out your website and creating...

It has been a minute since I had a GUEST on the podcast… It’s time to rectify that, don’t you think? I am so thrilled to welcome Christy Steinman, CPA and LIBBY student, onto the podcast to share about her journey from corporate to quitter’s club to full-time bookkeeping business! Christy’s path started out much like mine…college, accounting, etc. But some of the twists and turns her journey took afterward are TRULY fascinating, and I can’t wait for you all to hear just how many different...

For most of 2024, I’ve been sharing about Become a Bookkeeper, my program set up to help teach people the practical skills of bookkeeping. But some of you might be wondering…what do you do if you already HAVE those skills—you just don’t know how to turn them into a business? Enter Life By The Books, aka LIBBY! LIBBY is the program I created for people who are already skilled in bookkeeping, but need some support to take those skills and build a sustainable, life-honoring business on top of...

I’ll be honest…lately, I feel a bit dried up on podcast topics. Luckily, I don’t have to come up with ideas alone. When I ran out of inspiration on my own, I called in an old friend: ChatGPT came to the rescue! After a few rounds of refining my questions, I asked ChatGPT this: “Why do people have a dream and not act on that dream?” Now, this is a hard question for ME to answer, so I wasn’t sure what ChatGPT would say…but it gave me some really great answers. And after narrowing them down,...

I have a very, very simple question to ask you: What do you want? It seems like an easy question to answer, right? But does it feel easy…or were you surprised by how difficult it was to come up with a “good” answer? That’s our problem right there: instead of tuning in and actually listening to our own wants, we judge ourselves for them instead. “I can’t have that because I wasn’t raised in a wealthy family.” “I can’t have that because I never graduated college.” “I can’t have that...

I have been asked this question over and over and over again… “What is the best way to get new bookkeeping clients?” And every time, I have given the same answer: “The best marketing strategy is being REALLY good at what you do.” I continue to stand by this answer. However, this strategy only works with these three caveats: YOU know that you’re really good at what you do. Your clients CPAs know that you’re really good at what you do. Your CLIENTS know that you’re really good at...

It’s finally here! Welcome to Part 5 of the BABs Revamp miniseries, where we’re finally going to discuss what you’ve all been eagerly waiting for: the parts of BABs we will be updating! With the help of DreamPro, a talented team of online course creators who helped me with building the original version of BABs way back when, Become a Bookkeeper is getting a very exciting facelift. We’ll be updating things by adding a new client example, adding a new practicum, redoing things with the latest...

If you’ve been listening to me talk about the upcoming BABs (Become a Bookkeeper) revamp and thinking, “Wait, if she’s changing it, does that mean it’s a poor-quality program now?” then I want to let you know… The answer is “Absolutely not.” BABs is an exemplary program, and it has taught and enhanced bookkeeping skills for over two hundred students. But I realized recently that you might not know that…because I haven’t shared NEARLY enough student testimonials about the difference BABs has...

Welcome to Part Three of my miniseries dedicated to Become a Bookkeeper, my program that teaches the technical skills of bookkeeping regardless of experience level! Last week, I went over the hesitations I struggled with as I debated the doability of building a course to teach bookkeeping…one of which was that I believed I would have to teach QuickBooks. QuickBooks is the name of the game for bookkeeping—it has been for a long time. Most accountants would recognize QuickBooks before they...

Welcome to Part Two of my miniseries dedicated to Become a Bookkeeper, my program that teaches the technical skills of bookkeeping regardless of experience level! Last week, I took you back in time with me to the year 2019…a year when NONE of us knew what the future had in store for us, least of all me. But that was the year when the seed of BABs first got planted in my mind…and two years later, it finally came to fruition. However, those two years weren’t without their challenges. Before I...

As I mentioned back in Episode 164, there are some big things happening in 2024… Including a revamp of my program that teaches the technical skill of bookkeeping, Become A Bookkeeper! Over the next few weeks, I’m taking you on a behind-the-scenes tour as we work on the program and share the story of how BABs came to be, what it teaches, why we’re revamping it, and what that revamp is going to look like. However, it’s a looong story…so today, we’re starting at Chapter One! The story begins...

Recently, I was so honored to be interviewed by Sam Chlebowski, host of Designing Growth podcast and co-founder of Motion.io! Sam had some incredible, thought-provoking questions to ask, and it gave me a chance to share so much valuable information for bookkeepers and other small business owners alike.  We talked about my story, the myth of corporate being the “safe” route, the resistance to scaling your business, some of the common bookkeeping mistakes new business owners make, and so much...

I have to be honest… I am more stressed out than I have been in a very long time. Not only that, but I’ve been a bit hard on myself about it, because I make a point to practice what I preach, and much of the way I structure my business is meant to PREVENT me from getting into the kind of stressful period I’m in now. So I sat down and said to myself, “All right, Katie. It is what it is. This is the situation you’re in. Let’s pause and figure out how we got here, and how we can prevent it...

If you’re avoiding setting up automations and choosing to do everything manually in order to “save money”...guess what? You’re actually LOSING money. Doing more ≠ making more. And by investing in systems to automate as many of our admin tasks as possible, freeing up our time to do more client-facing work, we can actually MAKE MORE by DOING LESS. I promise you this works. In fact, I’m so passionate about the impact of systems on your bookkeeping business (or any service-based business!)...

If you’re feeling stalled out, at capacity, and struggling to find a way to increase your income in your bookkeeping business… I have exactly what you need. Introducing the Cashflow Catalyst Masterclass: a bookkeeping workshop that will introduce you to two offers you can add on in addition to your monthly client services…without overwhelming yourself or pushing you past capacity. With the two offers inside Cashflow Catalyst, you can add THOUSANDS to your monthly bookkeeping income without...

Happy New Year, everyone! Welcome to the busiest season of the year for bookkeepers: the end of the year. Well…the very end and the very beginning, anyway. December and January are always packed for bookkeepers. There are plenty of things that need wrapping up, including December’s books, prep for tax season, and something I firmly believe every bookkeeper should implement into their end-of-year practices: a full year-end review. If you’ve never done a year-end review–or you have, but you...

In case you missed it…I recently got the opportunity to guest on The Lemonade Stand show, hosted by Tara Armstrong!  We chatted about my story, how I became a bookkeeper, how I started coaching bookkeepers, the qualities needed to become a bookkeeper, and—the answer to the question I get the most—what you DON’T need to become a bookkeeper. Most people believe that bookkeeping isn’t teachable…or that you need to go to school for it in order to have a career in it.  That can’t be further...

Last week, I shared twenty affirmations for honoring the present and bringing yourself back to the present moment. This week, I want to share affirmations for women like me…women who are balancing both business and motherhood. As mothers and business owners, we often struggle to believe that we’re doing enough.  That we're spending enough time with our kids... That we're putting enough time into our business... And that we're showing up at our best in every area of our lives. We can fall...

Last week, I shared some pretty powerful affirmations you can recite daily while you’re building your own business. But that’s not the only area of your life affirmations can affect! Today, I’m sharing twenty daily affirmations for honoring the present and bringing yourself back to the present moment. It is all too easy to live anywhere except the present. But when we live always looking back on yesterday and wishing we could turn back the clock, or spend so much time worrying about what...

Last week, I talked all about how powerful the practice of reciting daily affirmations can be. It’s absolutely changed the way I think about my life, my business, and motherhood. In fact, it’s been so transformative that I want to sit down today and share them with all of you! Today, I’m sharing twenty daily affirmations all about building a business. Building a business can be a stressful, discouraging, and sometimes lonely endeavor. You can quickly find yourself sinking into negative...

If you saw the title of this episode and went “Um…affirmations? That’s a little out there for me. SKIP!” then HOLD YOUR HORSES - this episode is for you!  I get it. Lots of Type A personalities - aka, most bookkeepers and business owners - think affirmations are nothing but a waste of time, or put them in the same category as more woo-woo concepts like manifestation. In actuality, affirmations are a fantastic psychological trick to get yourself OUT of negative thought patterns and INTO...

Okay, okay…so maybe that title was a LITTLE clickbait-worthy. But listen, I never do that—I’ve earned at least one! Today’s episode DOES feature a separation story…but it’s the story of how I separated my two businesses. I have my bookkeeping business and my coaching business. And for a long time, I ran both together…even though I knew I really shouldn’t. On the surface, they seem like they could go together. But trust me…after eighteen months spent working to unravel them and turn them...

Last episode, we talked about CLIENT RETENTION: what it is, why it matters, and why we need to shift it to the top of our priority list. However, I know what you’re thinking…you probably looked at that priority list and thought, “There’s no way I can put client retention above X.” Whatever that “X” is for you, I can guarantee you that retaining clients absolutely should come above it…no matter how crucial it may seem. So today, I’m going to go through a list of nine things that might be...

What if I told you that growing your bookkeeping business…actually SHOULDN’T be your focus at all? It sounds pretty strange. Every business owner wants to see their business grow. However, there’s something else that should actually take priority as you’re running your bookkeeping biz… Client retention. Nobody talks about it, but it’s true: client retention is KING. It’s the key to building a consistent, sustainable business that allows you to live the kind of life you want. It’s how I’m...